We study the underlying event in proton-antiproton collisions by examining the behavior of charged particles (transverse momentum pT > 0.5 GeV/c, pseudorapidity |\eta| < 1) produced in association with large transverse momentum jets (~2.2 fb-1) or with Drell-Yan lepton-pairs (~2.7 fb-1) in the Z-boson mass region (70 < M(pair) < 110 GeV/c2) as measured by CDF at 1.96 TeV center-of-mass energy. We use the direction of the lepton-pair (in Drell-Yan production) or the leading jet (in high-pT jet production) in each event to define three regions of \eta-\phi space; toward, away, and transverse, where \phi is the azimuthal scattering angle. For Drell-Yan production (excluding the leptons) both the toward and transverse regions are very sensitive to the underlying event. In high-pT jet production the transverse region is very sensitive to the underlying event and is separated into a MAX and MIN transverse region, which helps separate the hard component (initial and final-state radiation) from the beam-beam remnant and multiple parton interaction components of the scattering. The data are corrected to the particle level to remove detector effects and are then compared with several QCD Monte-Carlo models. The goal of this analysis is to provide data that can be used to test and improve the QCD Monte-Carlo models of the underlying event that are used to simulate hadron-hadron collisions.

We present a study of pp¯ collisions at s=1800 and 630 GeV collected using a minimum bias trigger by the CDF experiment in which the data set is divided into two classes corresponding to “soft” and “hard” interactions. For each subsample, the analysis includes measurements of the multiplicity, transverse momentum (pT) spectrum, and the average pT and event-by-event pT dispersion as a function of multiplicity. A comparison of results shows distinct differences in the behavior of the two samples as a function of the center of mass (c.m.) energy. We find evidence that the properties of the soft sample are invariant as a function of c.m. energy.

Measurements of inclusive transverse-momentum spectra for charged particles produced in proton-antiproton collisions at √2 of 630 and 1800 GeV are presented and compared with data taken at lower energies.

We study charged particle production in proton-antiproton collisions at 300 GeV, 900 GeV, and 1.96 TeV. We use the direction of the charged particle with the largest transverse momentum in each event to define three regions of eta-phi space; toward, away, and transverse. The average number and the average scalar pT sum of charged particles in the transverse region are sensitive to the modeling of the underlying event. The transverse region is divided into a MAX and MIN transverse region, which helps separate the hard component (initial and final-state radiation) from the beam-beam remnant and multiple parton interaction components of the scattering. The center-of-mass energy dependence of the various components of the event are studied in detail. The data presented here can be used to constrain and improve QCD Monte Carlo models, resulting in more precise predictions at the LHC energies of 13 and 14 TeV.

We report a set of measurements of particle production in inelastic pbar{p} collisions collected with a minimum-bias trigger at the Tevatron Collider with the CDF II experiment. The inclusive charged particle transverse momentum differential cross section is measured, with improved precision, over a range about ten times wider than in previous measurements. The former modeling of the spectrum appears to be incompatible with the high particle momenta observed. The dependence of the charged particle transverse momentum on the event particle multiplicity is analyzed to study the various components of hadron interactions. This is one of the observable variables most poorly reproduced by the available Monte Carlo generators. A first measurement of the event transverse energy sum differential cross section is also reported. A comparison with a Pythia prediction at the hadron level is performed. The inclusive charged particle differential production cross section is fairly well reproduced only in the transverse momentum range available from previous measurements. At higher momentum the agreement is poor. The transverse energy sum is poorly reproduced over the whole spectrum. The dependence of the charged particle transverse momentum on the particle multiplicity needs the introduction of more sophisticated particle production mechanisms, such as multiple parton interactions, in order to be better explained.

A measurement of the cross section for the inclusive production of isolated photons by the CDF experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity region |eta^gamma|<1.0 and the transverse energy range E_T^gamma>30 GeV and is based on 2.5/fb of integrated luminosity. The sample is almost a factor of seven larger than those used for recent published results and extends the E_T^gamma coverage by 100 GeV. The result agrees with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations within uncertainties over the range 50<E_Tgamma<400 GeV, though the energy spectrum in the data shows a steeper slope at lower E_T^gamma.

We present a measurement of the inclusive jet cross section in p-pbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV based on data collected by the CDF II detector with an integrated luminosity of 1.13 fb^-1. The measurement was made using the cone-based Midpoint jet clustering algorithm in the rapidity region of |y|<2.1. The results are consistent with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions based on recent parton distribution functions (PDFs), and are expected to provide increased precision in PDFs at high parton momentum fraction x. The results are also compared to the recent inclusive jet cross section measurement using the k_T jet clustering algorithm, and we find that the ratio of the cross sections measured with the two algorithms is in agreement with theoretical expectations over a large range of jet transverse momentum and rapidity.

A measurement of the $\bjet$ production cross section is presented for events containing a $Z$ boson produced in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron. $Z$ bosons are selected in the electron and muon decay modes. Jets are considered with transverse energy $E_T>20$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<1.5$ and are identified as $\bjets$ using a secondary vertex algorithm. The ratio of the integrated $Z+\bjet$ cross section to the inclusive $Z$ production cross section is measured to be $3.32 \pm 0.53 {\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.42 {\rm (syst.)}\times 10^{-3}$. This ratio is also measured differentially in jet $E_T$, jet $\eta$, $Z$-boson transverse momentum, number of jets, and number of $\bjets$. The predictions from leading order Monte Carlo generators and next-to-leading-order QCD calculations are found to be consistent with the measurements within experimental and theoretical uncertainties.

We present a measurement of the shapes of b-jets using 300 pb-1 of data obtained with the upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF II) in p pbar collisions at center of mass energy sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. This measurement covers a wide transverse momentum range, from 52 to 300 GeV/c. Samples of heavy-flavor enhanced jets together with inclusive jets are used to extract the average shapes of b-jets. The b-jets are expected to be broader than inclusive jets. Moreover, b-jets containing a single b-quark are expected to be narrower than those containing a b bbar pair from gluon splitting. The measured b-jet shapes are found to be significantly broader than expected from the PYTHIA and HERWIG Monte Carlo simulations. This effect may arise from an underestimation of the fraction of b-jets originating from gluon splitting in these simulations.

Inclusive jet cross sections in Z/gamma^* events, with Z/gamma^* decaying into an electron-positron pair, are measured as a function of jet transverse momentum and jet multiplicity in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV with the upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab in Run II, based on an integrated luminosity of 1.7 fb^-1. The measurements cover the rapidity region | yjet | < 2.1 and the transverse momentum range ptjet > 30 GeV/c. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions are in good agreement with the measured cross sections.